is it ok if baby beardies eat calcium powder raw?

[kingbabybeardie]

I feed keira the zilla caloric supplement. she's gotten fater

 

[diamc]

Hi again, your beardies are very cute and I'm glad that you were able to just keep the beardies. I looked at the pictures and noticed that there is quite a bit of size difference between the 2 of them. Keira is very frail looking and I do think having them housed together is taking a toll on her. How soon do you think you'll be able to separate them?

Having a mercury vapor bulb in only a 20 gallon tank is VERY dangerous because those bulbs are strong and can produce a lot of heat. We don't recommend using a MVB on anything smaller than a 40 gallon breeder. How close do you have the bulb to them? Did you get either a temperature gun or digital thermometer with probe end yet? If not, it is crucial that you find out what the true temps are because otherwise they will more than likely overheat which causes rapid dehydration. If you have a 100 watt MVB, it needs to be a minimum of 12" from them when they are in their basking spot. They should not be allowed to get any closer than that anywhere in their tank. In a 20 gallon, it's very hard to have the proper temps on both sides of the tank when using a normal basking bulb so you need to monitor it very closely temperature wise and distance wise.

Some MVB's get very hot, especially the T-Rex, I have 100 watt in a 55 gallon tank at a distance of 15" and get a basking temp of 105. I use a low wattage household bulb on the cool side to get a temp there of 80. I'm not familiar with the Rep Pro but have to imagine that it has to be producing too strong of the ultra violet rays and be throwing out too much heat for only a 20 gallon so that's very concerning.

Could you respond to these issues and questions, they are very important as your beardies lives are at stake especially since you mentioned that the 60 watt bulb melted the plastic on top of the tank.

We would also like an update. :wink: